Brush-On Rollcage Paint

You can't paint a rollcage. At least not well, anyway. Finished cars have interiors and headliners in the way, and stripped cars like the recently painted Car Craft Demon project have suspension and other bits that need to be taped off and protected, ruling out gun work inside the car. So when we heard about a brush-on coating that flows out like paint from a gun, we called KBS Coatings to take a look. Christian Huggins at Elite Restoration in Paramount, California, did the dirty work.

2/10A new 2x3 front clip and downbars were added to the Demon using a Chris Alston kit. Praveen Singh at Elite shot the front end in primer before taping it off and sending the car into the booth for the base, graphics, and clearcoats.

3/101. The first step was to clean the primered surfaces with KBS’s Aqua Clean. The white bottle was used to mix the product with warm water and spray it on the surfaces to be treated.

4/102. The next step is to etch the primer with KBS’s Rust Blast. In this case, it served to clean the surface and prepare it for the sealer and top coat. It can also be used on severely rusted metal and flash-rusted metals that you find on long-term projects.

5/103. With all the metal rinsed with water and dry, Christian Huggins at Elite applied the Rust Seal. It is mixed with 5–10 percent thinner and flows on to the treated metal. Once dried, it is solvent-resistant and prevents rust. We chose black, but there are 10 colors available.

6/104. Christian’s advice was to tape off any painted surfaces on the car to avoid splatter from the application process.

7/105. The Rust Seal can be applied with a foam or standard brush, roller, or even sprayed on with a gun. Here Christian used a nylon brush to apply the sealer to the frame.

8/106. The Rust Seal has a glossy sheen when dried and is not UV-resistant, meaning sunlight can break down the color and make it fade. The sealer can be painted with any paint system, but we chose to use the flat-black Black Top that resists temperature and color fade anywhere the sealer might be exposed to the sun.

9/107. With the Black Top applied, the sealer flowed out and looked like it was applied with a paint gun.

10/10Christian also applied the Black Top to the downbars and rollcage inside the car and inner fenders, being careful to protect the coating from dust and moisture for 2–4 hours while it cured. End